Research Topic

The Role of Metabolism in Stem Cell Fates

About this Research Topic

Stem cells, ranging from pluripotent to adult unipotent, as well as cancer stem cells, have the unique ability to replenish their population or differentiate into a specified cell type. Extensive research to understand stem cell fate decisions is crucial to discover approaches to manipulate them. This has ...

Stem cells, ranging from pluripotent to adult unipotent, as well as cancer stem cells, have the unique ability to replenish their population or differentiate into a specified cell type. Extensive research to understand stem cell fate decisions is crucial to discover approaches to manipulate them. This has focused on how specific growth factors and extracellular cues can elicit responses for the different outcomes to remain quiescent or become activated to self-renew, commit to a more specialized progenitor and/or differentiate into various lineages.

However, recent groundbreaking findings have highlighted an unusual layer of complexity in stem cell determination based on its metabolic status, in terms of bioenergetics, metabolites and redox state. In this regard, metabolism is not merely regarded as a characteristic of the stem cell condition but plays a pivotal role in dictating cell fates. Indeed, stem cell identity and function are impacted by the influence of drugs, the micro or macro environment that link nutrient shuttling to metabolite and energy production with epigenetic, transcriptional and post-translational changes.

This Research Topic welcomes research articles and reviews that aim to address the role of metabolism in regulating stem cell character, cell fate choices, and/or their upstream or downstream reprogramming mechanisms. These submissions will provide a greater understanding and potential targets for how to maintain, differentiate, eliminate and engraft stem cells.

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